Items Tagged with 'student loans'

ARTICLES

The U.S. Department of Education has refused to cooperate with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, according to CFPB Director Kathy Kraninger. Kraninger recently sent a letter to Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-MA, in response to the senator’s questions about the bureau’s efforts to protect student loan borrowers through its oversight of student loan servicers.

A recent report from LendingTree reveals that although Gen Xers are now in their prime earning years, many are refraining from homeownership due to substantial debt. According to LendingTree’s analysis, 28% of homeowners owe a median of $28,557 in student debt, whereas 27% of renters have a median of $28,203.

A shortage of entry-level homes will stymie the housing market this year, nullifying much of the impact of lower mortgage rates, according to a forecast by Diane Swonk, Grant Thornton chief economist. "The housing market will tread water in 2019 as supply constraints and affordability problems offset any gains from slightly lower mortgage rates," Swonk said.

SoFi must stop misleading consumers about the amount of money they can save by refinancing their loan through SoFi, the Federal Trade Commission declared Monday. According to the FTC, since at least April 2016, SoFi “deceptively advertised inflated figures” about student loan refinances, basically claiming that it could save borrowers far more than is actually the case.

So let’s start with some good news: interest rates are not going through the roof in 2019. However, this remains nothing to get too excited about. For example, even as tech continues to replace processing jobs in mortgage lending, the cost efficiency has yet to translate into more mortgages. Shall we get the 2019 outlook machine started?

Commentary

Every day, people in your community are looking for a new place to call home. But in the age of the digital shift, they are now getting most of that information from their mobile devices rather than more traditional sources.